Chapter 229: Chapter 228: All “Familiar Faces

Zhu Yu tried hard to recall, attempting to remember if she had ever heard of any particularly serious homicides or other shocking disappearance cases in the territory of Shuo Country since she had memory.

After racking her brains to recall, Zhu Yu was very certain that in the history of Shuo Country, even before her father ascended to the throne, there had never been such a horrifying event.

In comparison, she was more inclined to believe that all this was related to the previous disappearance of the population.

Following Zhu Feng’s gesture, other government soldiers also jumped into the pit one after another to help dig out the human bones. Zhu Yu then carefully identified the bones brought out of the pit by their different parts and sorted them into several different piles.

The craftsmen and common people who helped dig the canal stood around at a distance, staring dumbfoundedly at Zhu Yu busily working.

Zhu Yu picked up two pieces of broken bones from the ground, which were accidentally broken off when a burial site was first discovered. She held the broken bones in her hands, carefully observing the break surfaces.

The outline of the bone’s fracture surface was somewhat rough, and the boundary was also blurry, which startled Zhu Yu a bit.

She prided herself on having seen much more than ordinary people in this area, but after carefully examining the fracture surface of the human bone in her hand, a cold sweat quietly crept up her back, making her hair stand on end.

“Second Master, what’s wrong? Is there something wrong with the bones?” asked the rune as he climbed out of the pit, seeing that there were enough people down there handling the bones, and returned to Zhu Yu’s side.

At this time, Lu Qing was not present, so as the mistress, it was natural for him to closely guard the situation, ensuring that nothing unexpected happened, especially during such chaotic times.

“These bones…” Zhu Yu sighed slowly, “are cooked.”

“Cooked?!” The rune’s heart tightened as he looked in shock at the bones in Zhu Yu’s hand, “Cooked…human bones?!”

“Yes,” Zhu Yu’s expression was also very solemn, “Whether they are human or animal bones, it’s the same.

Raw bones are relatively brittle, while cooked bones have more tenacity.

The fracture surfaces of raw bones are relatively neat, with clear boundaries, definitely not like this.

Initially, I was puzzled as to why every corpse was so completely reduced to white bones without any differences.

Now it makes sense, because the bones were cooked… not to mention the flesh…”

Zhu Yu found herself unable to continue.

In the past, she had handled particularly brutal cases before, and it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen ones where the human form was unrecognizable.

But for perfectly normal people, and not one or two, no matter what wicked method was used, to be able to make the bones cooked… this approach truly felt chilling to the core.

Zhu Feng had been watching for a long time, and although he was somewhat intimidated by those human bones, he was too embarrassed to admit it verbally, yet his actions were quite honest as he stood at a distance, not daring to get too close.

Thus, he could not catch the conversation between Zhu Yu and the rune too clearly; he could only tell that while Zhu Yu’s expression wasn’t good, she was quite calm and not visibly fearful.

And Prince Xiaoyao’s guard seemed not to be surprised, instead respectfully consulting and asking her something.

Before her marriage, the only thing about this half-sister that left a deep impression on Zhu Feng was one time when they all went hunting with their father. While the other girls at home were picking flowers, weaving garlands, or flying kites, this second sister was particularly eager to learn horseback riding.

At that time, their father thought it was just a joke and casually agreed, pointing to a tall horse nearby and letting Zhu Feng teach her.

The horse was stout and big, with long legs. Zhu Feng did not believe his second sister would dare ride it, let alone learn how to control it.

Unexpectedly, she indeed made an effort to climb onto the horse and cautiously attempt to ride it according to Zhu Feng’s instructions. After a few tries, she surprisingly managed to ride the horse at a slow pace.

By the time they returned from the hunt, this second sister was already able to control the reins, making the horse trot.

Now it seems, this sister has many abilities they were unaware of.

He averted his gaze, not wanting Zhu Yu and the rune to notice the inquisitiveness in his eyes just now.

The present is different from the past; the half-sister of old is now a Secondary First Rank Princess of Jin Country. Observing along the way, Prince Xiaoyao indeed showed constant concern for Zhu Yu, and Zhu Feng did not want his actions to seem disrespectful.

He turned towards the crowd watching from a distance, asking, “You all live around here, right? Has anyone been missing or abducted by bandits in this vicinity of a hundred miles or so?”

Zhu Feng hadn’t revealed his identity, but since the government soldiers of Prince Shuo Mansion followed his commands, outsiders assumed he was some steward under Prince Shuo, and hence treated him with respect.

“To answer the honorable officer,” an old man, seeing that the younger ones around were too scared to speak rashly, waved his hand among the crowd and said to Zhu Feng, “Apart from the blacksmiths around this area who ran off to make their fortunes elsewhere and haven’t returned, we haven’t heard of anyone else missing.”

The others echoed in agreement.

At this moment, a woman who had just come over to deliver food poked her head out from the crowd, shouting, “Who says there isn’t? My nephew is missing!”

“Oh? What does your nephew do? How old is he this year? How long has he been missing?” Zhu Feng hurriedly asked.

The woman was just about to speak when a few nearby people started to snicker.

“Officer, don’t pay her any mind!” A man in his thirties waved his hand, “Auntie Li’s nephew left last year to apprentice with a blacksmith master elsewhere, thinking to come back to open a blacksmith shop after mastering the craft. We lack blacksmiths around here, and there’s plenty of business to go around.

He’s only been gone a year, and hasn’t mastered the skills, so he hasn’t returned yet. Isn’t that perfectly normal?

She’s just overly anxious, worrying someone might open a blacksmith shop before her nephew returns, and snatch away all the business!”

As the man said this, several other people began to chuckle, implying that Auntie Li was indeed a bit greedy, and thus the others nodded in agreement with the man’s words.

The woman referred to as “Auntie Li” became anxious upon hearing this. She quickly swung her handheld wicker basket at those around her, “You bunch of country bumpkins, stop spouting nonsense!

My nephew lost his parents since childhood, and he grew up by my side, just like my own son.

If nothing was wrong, even if he hadn’t mastered his apprenticeship, he would have sent word back, wouldn’t just disappear without a trace.

As it stands, forget about waiting for him to write back; even passing messages through others hasn’t yielded any replies. How can I not be worried sick!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep